[rerec]

Can someone help me? My instrument panel lights do not work, I have 12v on the blue/red wire untill I plug one of the light sockets into the panel then my voltage goes to 0v. I believe I have a ground problem on the switch but I am not sure which wire on the switch is suppose to be the ground. If I hook a wire from the battery to the Blue/red wire the dash lights will work. If someone could help me that would be great.

[Jay H 237]

Looking at the factory 68 service manual I see no ground for the headlight switch as it's ground is the fact it's attached directly to the metal dash.

Do you have an aftermarket radio in the car? The original wiring harness has the blue/red wire for the dial light and is tied into the instrument lights, same circuit. If the radio has been changed this wire may be hooked up to something it shouldn't or it could be outright shorted depending on what was done to the end of it. Just something else to check.

I'll look at the drawings more when I get a chance and see if anythinh else jumps out.

Here's a list of the wires and what pins they go to. I just hope the pins are marked on the switch the same as they are on the diagram.

Pins "A"and "B" are empty.
"P" is a red/yellow
"R" is black (there may be two on this pin)
"I" or "1" (can't see clearly on diagram) is a black/orange
"4" is a black/yellow
"D2" is a yellow and green/red
"D1" I can't tell you what color wire goes here as the diagram is faint. It is used by the main headlights by looking at the internal connections in the switch.
The dimmer is tied into pins "R" and "I" (or "1") and gives an extra feed to pin "A".

NOTE: pins "A" and "B" are defined as "aux headlamp" and show no connections to them on the diagram. This may be where factory foglamps tie into and/or courtesy lights, not sure.

[rerec]

Thanks, I will check it out tomorrow. It does have an aftermarket radio in it. But I have ran wires directly to the radio from the battery and ignition switch. Not sure if someone else has done something in the past. I don't believe a whole lot has been done to it, I bought it about six months ago, and untill then it had not been registered since 1980 according to the courthouse. I know that is it a headach trying to figure it out though.

[Jay H 237]

Originally Posted by rerec

Thanks, I will check it out tomorrow. It does have an aftermarket radio in it. But I have ran wires directly to the radio from the battery and ignition switch. Not sure if someone else has done something in the past. I don't believe a whole lot has been done to it, I bought it about six months ago, and untill then it had not been registered since 1980 according to the courthouse. I know that is it a headach trying to figure it out though.

Electrical problems are a real headache but it's not as bad with these older cars as they don't have nearly the amount of circuits newer vehicles have.

Running new wires for the radio is fine, just definitely find out what has been done with the original wires. The original power harness for the radio had a two prong plug (if still there, unless it's been cut off) and it had a blue/red wire for the dial light and a yellow/black wire for the power. Let us know here what you've found with these wires and the ones on the headlight switch when you get a chance. If you still need help or have more questions I'll dig into the wiring diagram some more and see if I can come up with another possibility. With electrical you just have to methodically go through everything until you find the problem.

[rerec]

You are right about the headache, because that is all this car is when it comes to the electrical. I cheacked the radio wires and everything is there and nothing has been cut. I checked the "R" and the "I" wires, the "R" is the ground as far as I can tell, it has continuity From the ground on the car. If you have any other suggestion it would be great.

Thanks for the help.

[The Greek]

Check the connector which goes from the main harness,to the instrument cluster. Sometimes this female end of the blue/red stripe terminal will be spread open too far where the male end (cluster side) terminal won't make contact when the connector is plugged together. The number for this wire is 19. Also check the ground terminal for this same problem it is the black wire number 57. From the instrument cluster side this black wire goes to a barrel type connector which leads to a terminal that is attached with a screw to the metal on the back of the cluster frame assy. This black ground wire is the only ground connection to the cluster. I hope I didn't confuse you, all the best.----Chuck

[rerec]

I checked out the connectors and wires 19 and 57 and can't find a problem there. I believe the problem is either in the main harness or the switch but a new switch does the samething. On the main wiring harness the voltage drops to zero if here is a bulb plugged straight to the harness without the instrument cluster. So I am not really sure where the problem is.
Thanks